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Paddler’s Paradise

Bowron Lake Provincial Park
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“You doing anything special to get ready to paddle the Bowron?” questioned one of the members of our group.

"Yeah, waxing my canoe," I replied. There was a puzzled silence at the other end of the line.

I'd done the math. The Bowron Lakes canoe circuit is, in round numbers, 116-kilometres long. Portages, ranging from a pleasant walk to stumblebum grind, only account for 11 kilometres. That leaves 105km of paddling.

On a calm lake, I paddle about once every three metres. Punching those figures into a calculator, the number of strokes comes out somewhere north of 35,000. Just seeing it made my shoulders ache. I figured a couple of coats of wax would knock a few thousand of those strokes off the total. Good tradeoff in my books.

The sickening CRASH in the parking lot a few days later turned everyone's head. I felt my face redden. My canoe was so slick I'd dropped it lifting it off the top of the truck.

"Oops," I said, not wanting to look. Whew, no damage other then an oozing ego wound.

It was the first time I cursed my sloth. The second through 78th time was along the first two portages. Now, there are three things you should know about portaging at Bowron. First, almost half of the total portage distance happens in the first two portages. Second, you're a complete fool if you don't rent wheels and push/pull your boat along the portage trails, which were about as challenging as the Valley Trail the previous time I did the Bowron. Third, cuts to BC Parks have led to reduced trail maintenance and some of the portage trails are now absolutely f*#@%in' murderous, wheels or not.

And if your canoe is slippery as snot, it doesn't help portaging at all.

None of that mattered when we finally launched ourselves into the calm waters of Kibbee Lake, the first of a dozen lakes arranged in a strangely geometric parallelogram about 120km east of Quesnel, folded into Quesnel Highlands and the Cariboo Mountains. The sun was shining and the water was glass.

Our group of six, in three canoes, had five Bowron circuits under our belts, never together. There was only one thing common to all our trips: Weather, as in WEATHER! Mean-spirited, stormy, wet, cold, incessant, and occasionally even miserable weather with just enough sunny days to keep us coming back. And while much of last summer had hewn true to that description, we hit the jackpot this time. For six days after Labour Day, a stubborn high-pressure ridge brought clear skies, warm temperatures and, most uncharacteristically, placid, mirror-like waters.

Bowron is termed a wilderness area by BC Parks, which administers it. It is beautiful, rugged and wild but it isn't wilderness, at least as that term is generally understood. There are 54 designated campsites sprinkled along the lakes, 10 of which are group sites subject to reservation. Every site has from one to six tent pads, with a giant site on tiny Unna Lake having 13, spread out peacefully along the shore. They all have fire rings, the usage of which is mandatory, pit toilets and bear caches for food. There is bucked, if hopelessly wet, firewood at specified locations along the route.

Coupled with entry restricted both as to numbers and time of day, canoes on portage carts loaded with up to 60lbs of gear — the remainder, if any, being grunted on your back — and strategically placed radio phones, Bowron is a satisfying, safe, achingly beautiful canoe experience, albeit well on the civilized side of wilderness.

How civilized? Our collective experience with this gem of a canoe circuit meant we did the following: Ate like kings; religiously observed cocktail hour; and, were comfortable doing both.

A cooler outfitted with dry ice meant our menus included butter chicken, Thai shrimp, flank steak, salmon fillets... I'm ashamed to go on. Let's just say there wasn't freeze-dried anything on the trip. Early starts meant early stops to secure the best sites. Early stops also meant cocktails were enjoyed punctually at tea time, allowing us the luxury of sitting in — I'm almost embarrassed to say — full-size lawn chairs as we watched wildlife graze and increasingly desperate, tired campers paddle past, staving off exhaustion only through will power. We waved at them and yelled encouragement.

Okay, now I am ashamed. But my shame was honestly earned . The first time I circuited Bowron I was too stupid — read tradition-bound — to rent wheels. I portaged the canoe on my aching shoulders. I didn't bring a cooler and ate what seemed like kibble compared to this trip. And I scrabbled around on hard ground searching pointlessly for a comfortable place to sit.

But not this time? Everything we took fit within the portage trail weight restrictions for loaded, wheeled canoes, the safe capacity of our boats and what we were willing to carry on our backs. To do the Bowron in lesser luxury would have meant we'd learned nothing from our collective mistakes.

So what's the draw? What is it about Bowron that keeps people coming back? It's not the solitude. The circuit is moderately busy all summer and crushingly busy around long weekends, although daily access is capped. You will see other campers, sometimes over and over again, and you may wind up sharing campgrounds. But most other parties are there for the same experience and campfire friendships are easily struck with like-minded people.

Much of the allure is the geological oddity of the circuit itself. Paddled clockwise, you never double back on yourself but still end at where you began. Instead, you travel through always-changing landscapes of deep forest, tranquil marsh, fjord-like lakes with steep, rocky peaks rising rapidly from inviting beach, braided connecting rivers and creeks, wide-open lakes where wind can turn tranquil waters into white-capped maelstroms faster than you can imagine, brisk moving water and at least one lake that seems to yearn to become a sandbar.

It all starts at the registration centre at the north end of Bowron Lake. Given its distance from anywhere, many campers spend the night before entering the park at the nearby campground or enjoy a final night's soft bed at one of the lodges on Bowron Lake.

A mandatory orientation covers the obvious — pack it in, pack it out — and timely information regarding the park; things like wood caches, wildlife activity and work crews. After a weigh-in to make sure you're not overloading your canoe for the portage trail, you get to hump it up the longest portage of the trip, 2.4km to Kibbee Lake.

It almost takes longer to load and launch than it takes to cross Kibbee and before you know it, you're unloading and schlepping across the second longest portage of the trip. Yes, it does seem sadistic.

But once on Isaac Lake, you can, weather permitting, kick back for a couple of days and enjoy the Bowron's longest — 38km — lake. Isaac can be treacherous, going from calm to boiling faster than you can get from the middle to the shore, so hugging the shore is wise. But this trip, the water was so glassy reflections took on a hallucinogenic quality as peaks on both shores undulated in the gentle bow wake of the canoe and we spent days transiting right down the centre.

There's reasonable fishing on Isaac where Wolverine and Betty Wendle creeks enter and a fun, short rapids at the end before you have to pull out before re-entering for the float down the Cariboo River. The river's not tricky but can be frustratingly shallow by late summer.

The landscape changes dramatically when you enter Lanezi Lake at the southern end of the park. Mountains are bigger, though more rounded, and everything seems to open up after Isaac's narrow passage.

You can bypass tiny Unna Lake ... but you shouldn't. A sandy beach campsite is a great place to catch some rays, but the real attraction is a short hike on the other side of the lake to crashing Cariboo Falls.

The best part of the circuit's west side is abundant wildlife. The place is filthy with moose. From Skoi Lake to the entrance to Bowron Lake the chances of not seeing moose is, well, none of us could remember a trip when we hadn't see moose. And on this trip, while we contemplated, over cocktails, a late afternoon paddle through the feeding grounds of the Bowron River before it enters the south end of Bowron Lake, a cow and calf made the effort academic when they nearly joined us where we'd camped at the far north end of Swan Lake.

I'm always amazed when I meet B.C. paddlers who haven't experienced Bowron. This backyard gem seems better known around the world than it does here. If you paddle and it isn't on your bucket list, best make some room. Maybe this summer, or better yet, after Labour Day, a perfect time to wax your canoe and listen to the song of the paddle.

Info: www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/bowron_lk